Alexander Igorevich Rybak (Russian: Александр Игоревич Рыбак) or Aliaksandr Iharavič Rybak (Belarusian: Аляксандр Ігаравіч Рыбак; born: May 13, 1986) is a Belarusian-Norwegian violinist who garnered fame after appearing on Eurovision.
Content[]
Alexander produces his own music and will occasionally cover other musicians work. He was famous for representing Norway in Eurovision with his song "Fairytale", which was inspired by Norwegian folk music. The song won 387 points, which is the highest points any country has received under that system. After his win, he released his debut album, Fairytales, which charted in the top 20 of several European countries. Some of his music has been featured in movies such as Black Lightning.
He also appeared as a judge on Romania's The X Factor and was a one off member on Eurovision's 2016 Belgian pre-selection.
His YouTube channel is a mix of him both vlogging and making music, as well as uploading his own music videos and live performances. He has even performed for the Swedish Royal Family.[1]
Personal life[]
He was born in Minsk, Belarus, and was the son of parents were both classical musicians. At the time, Belarus was part of the Soviet Union, but his parents were granted Norwegian citizenship after residing there for 7 years. His father defected after one of his concerts, and initially the family was not granted residence, having arrived on a tourist visa. Alex became a student at the Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo at the age of 10. As a result of his success in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest he took a break from his bachelor's degree studies at the institute, but in 2011 he returned to his studies and in June 2012 he graduated from the institute with a Bachelor of Music in violin performance.
Discography[]
- Fairytales (2009)
- No Boundaries (2010)
- Visa vid vindens ängar (2011)
- Christmas Tales (2012)
- Trolle og den magiske fela (2015)
Trivia[]
- He holds the record for youngest solo winner of any Eurovision competition, as well as the first and only Belarusian-born winner to date.[2][3]
- Rybak is often classified as having a tenore di grazia voice.
- He recorded a song for the 2014 How to Train Your Dragon 2 soundtrack, entitled "Into a Fantasy".
- In January 2010, NRK reported that he was recording to voice Hiccup in the Russian dub of How To Train Your Dragon,[4] but in the released version, Hiccup is voiced by Andrey Lyovin.
- Rybak is the first-ever Eurovision performer to win two semi-finals.
References[]
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjT9KLZPNxM
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20200612083425/https://eurovision.stb.ua/ru/2020/05/18/evrovidenie-2020-luchshie-vystupleniya-norvegii-na-konkurse/
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20221116200716/https://www.radio.nl/63425/sprookje-komt-uit-voor-noorse-winnaar
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20230908115816/https://www.nrk.no/kultur/rybak-dubber-_dragetreneren_-1.6946228